IRS offers five easy ways to spot a tax-scam phone call

Andrew J. Concatelli, ReminderNews Assistant EditorReminder News

Five easy ways to spot a tax-scam phone call

Thieves and scammers will try every trick in the book to separate you from your money, and one of their more common tactics involves callers posing as representatives of an organization to which you may actually owe money: the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS – the U.S. government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement – is warning the public to be alert for such telephone scams. These callers claim to be with the IRS, and often demand money to overdue pay taxes. Sometimes they may say that you are owed a refund, but this is merely to lure you into giving them your banking information or other private details.

These con artists can sound convincing when they call, according to the IRS. They may even know a lot about you, or may alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling. Scammers use fake names and made-up IRS badge numbers to sound more official, and if you don't answer, they often leave what they say is an "urgent" callback request.

The IRS offers the following five warning signs to tell if a call you receive is a fake. Any one of these five things is a sign of a scam. The IRS will never:

1. Call you about taxes you owe without first mailing you an official notice.

2. Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the chance to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

3. Require you to use a certain payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

4. Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

5. Threaten to bring in local police to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS who is asking for money, this is what you should do, according to the IRS:

If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to talk about payment options. You also may be able to set up a payment plan online at IRS.gov.

If you know you don't owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484 or at the website http://www.tigta.gov.

If phone scammers target you, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission at the website FTC.gov. Use the "FTC Complaint Assistant" to report the scam, and add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.

Remember, if you even suspect that a call you receive may have originated from a source other than the IRS, you should contact the IRS through a method you know to be legitimate, and in a manner that would make you confident you are not the victim of fraud.

For more information on reporting tax scams, visit the website http://www.irs.gov and type "scam" in the search box.